GHS girls, Starkey head to state

The Geneseo girls' cross country team and senior boys' runner Jordan Starkey have a date at state after the Lady Leafs and Starkey both advanced out of the Oct. 27 Peoria Notre Dame Sectional.

Amy Carton

The Geneseo girls' cross country team and senior boys' runner Jordan Starkey have a date at state after the Lady Leafs and Starkey both advanced out of the Oct. 27 Peoria Notre Dame Sectional.

"It was very exciting and I am proud of them," said head coach Don Fredericks.

The Lady Leafs placed third as a team to earn their spot in the state finals.

"The girls were ranked eighth going into regionals and depending on what Web site you look at they were ranked fourth, fifth or sixth for sectionals and got third," said Fredericks. "They outperformed all of those. They ran great and everybody ran tough."

Emily Ford paced the team with a 19th-place finish with a time of 19 minutes and 17 seconds, followed by Maggie Schlindwein in 23rd at 19:21.

Halle Olson came in 28th at 19:27, while Katie Puls took home 34th in 19:36. Taylor Claus finished 39th overall in 19:44, followed by Lauren Coulter in 57th at 20:07 and Morgan Kelly, 73rd at 20:25.

"All seven ran tough," said Fredericks. "Maggie was our second girl and that is the first time that happened. She went nuts. She and Katie Puls stepped up big time.

"I am really happy for them because there are a lot of deserving teams that never get the chance to run in the state finals, and luckily that is not the case for us."

Starkey punched his ticket to state with a sixth-place finish in the boys' race as he crossed the finish line in 15:33.

"My goal for Jordan was Top 10, which was quite an assignment," said Fredericks. "He got sixth and was banging heads with the big dogs."

The boys' team placed eighth overall.

"The boys ran great and just missed out," said Fredericks. "Honestly until the points were announced we didn't know because it was that close."

"Mitchell Lawson just missed qualifying by 5 seconds and that was by far the best race of his life," said Fredericks. "I am proud of the boys. They had a great season."

The Lady Leafs and Starkey will compete at the IHSA State Finals Nov. 3. The girls will race at 11 a.m., followed by the boys' race at noon.

"(The state finals) are pretty competitive and it is the best of the best," said Fredericks. "We are honored to be there. We are certainly going to race and not just participate.

"Jordan's goal is to be All-State and our top girls would love to achieve that as well. We are going to try to run for personal bests and the goal is to run the best race the last time you race. That is my goal for all eight of them."